


Helping Ryan

by bobbiejod



Category: The OC
Genre: Family, Gen, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-09
Updated: 2013-11-03
Packaged: 2017-11-24 07:41:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/632040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobbiejod/pseuds/bobbiejod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan’s trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chaos At The Cohen's

**Author's Note:**

> So I've already posted this on another site and wanted to see if I could get any new followers on this.

Chapter 1: Chaos At The Cohen’s  
Ryan Atwood slowly walked into the house after spending the entire day trying to catch up on all the work he had missed while he was on suspension. He knew that Sandy and Kirsten would be home soon and he wanted to refuel before they got home so he wouldn’t have to deal with their grilling. He opened the refrigerator to grab something to drink as he heard girlish giggling coming from the couch.  
He slowly walked in and spotted Seth lying on the couch as Summer was on top of them; they were in the middle of a major make out session. He quietly cleared his throat and they both sprung apart.  
“Ryan, hey.” Seth spotted him. “At least you weren’t our parents.”  
“Hey, Chino.” Summer greeted him as they both sat up and started to adjust their clothes. “We-We were going to watch a movie. Want to join us?”  
“No, thanks. I still have a ton of work to catch up on now that the disciplinary board cleared me to go back to school.”  
“Come on, man. One hour.” Seth told him. “Mom and dad won’t be home for a while yet. You can duck out really quick if we hear them.”  
“Come on, Chino.” Summer pleaded. “Don’t make me suffer through this movie alone.”  
“Fine. As long as there is no talk whatsoever about Marissa.” Ryan said.  
“Deal.” They both agreed and Ryan joined them on the couch.  
The three of them watched the movie in relatively quiet as Seth offered his constant commentary. The movie was almost over and Sandy and Kirsten still weren’t home yet.  
“Who could that be this late?” Seth wondered as they all heard the doorbell.  
“Your parents?” Summer asked.  
“They wouldn’t ring the doorbell.”  
“Maybe they can’t find their keys.”  
“I’ll go check.” Seth got up and started down the hall towards the door as Summer turned to Ryan.  
“I know you don’t want to talk about-”  
“Don’t.” he warned her. “I’m not ready to talk about it. Not yet.”  
“Ok. I won’t talk about her. Just so you know, if you need anyone to talk to about anything, I’m here. I know Cohen is only helpful to a point.”  
“Thanks, Summer.” He smiled at her as they heard some commotion at the door.  
“Hey! You can’t just barge in here barking out orders!” Seth yelled as they watched him follow after two men in suits. “You can’t do this!”  
“According to this, we can.” They flashed an official-looking paper at him.  
“What’s going on?” Ryan and Summer got off the couch as the two men approached them.  
“Are you Ryan Atwood?” one of them asked him.  
“Who are you?” he returned.  
“My name is Agent Hayward. This is Agent Manns. We’re with Child Services.”  
“Why are you here?”  
“Seth?” Summer looked at him as his whole body started to shake.  
“Ryan, they want to take you away.” Seth told him softly. “Because of the Oliver thing-”  
“We’ve looked into the school records-” Agent Manns started.  
“But they dropped all the charges against him.” Summer stated. “He’s starting back on Monday.”  
“Not this Monday, he’s not.”  
“You can’t just take him!” Seth shouted at them. “My parents are his guardians. They have to be here for this.”  
“Call them now, Seth.” Summer demanded and he grabbed the phone off the counter and dialed his parents’ numbers.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Kirsten Cohen had just pulled out of the Newport Group parking lot when her cell phone started to go off. She sighed as she searched for it, hoping that it wasn’t her dad telling her to come back upstairs. She was surprised to see her home phone number flash on the caller ID. She opened it and greeted whoever was on the other end.  
“Mom! Thank god! I tried calling dad’s phone, but he’s not answering. We have a big emergency here.”  
“Seth, calm down. What’s going on?”  
“Child services just showed up. They want to take Ryan.”  
“What?”  
“They found out about the Oliver thing. They got copies of the school records-”  
“I’m almost there, honey. Just stall them as long as you can. And stop Ryan if he tries to do something rash.”  
“I’ll try.” She hung up with Seth and dialed Sandy’s cell. It went straight to voice mail so she kept calling until he finally answered.  
“Kirsten? What’s going on? I have ten missed calls from both you and Seth. What’s so important?”  
“Sandy, how far away from the house are you?”  
“I don’t know. Maybe ten minutes. Why?”  
“You need to get home as fast as you can. Child services are there. They want to take Ryan because of all the school trouble.”  
“I’ll meet you there in five.” They both hung up and tried to get there before CPS decided to take Ryan by force.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Sandy and Kirsten arrived at the house at the same time. They got out of their vehicles as they noticed an official-looking car in the driveway. They rushed inside and heard angry yelling near the kitchen; most of it Spanish. They reached the kitchen and saw Seth, Summer, and Rosa having it out with two men in suits. Ryan was sitting on one of the bar stools near the counter as he looked at an official-looking document before him. They had never seen him that quiet. He looked deflated; almost like he had given up.  
“Excuse me!” Sandy said loudly and everyone stopped yelling. “I’m Sandy Cohen. This is my wife Kirsten. Now could you tell me what’s going on?”  
“It’s all right here.” One of the agents took the document from Ryan and handed it to him. “We need to take Mr. Atwood with us.”  
“They just burst into the house.” Seth said. “They weren’t invited in.”  
“So you just burst in and scared my sons and their friend-”  
Summer looked at Ryan and saw him about to lose it. She knew she had to get him out of there before he lost his temper. She gave Seth a look and motioned out the doors. He nodded as he continued to tell his father what the agents had done since they had arrived there.  
“Come on, Chino.” Summer pulled him off the chair and took him outside. “I think you need a break from all that.”  
“I screwed everything up,” Ryan sighed as they walked into the pool house and he slumped onto the bed. “I can’t believe this is happening.”  
“Everything is going to be fine.” Summer sat beside him.  
“They’re taking me away.” He looked at her. “My worst nightmare-”  
“It’s probably just temporary.” She assured him. “They’ll evaluate you for a couple days and realize this is where you belong.”  
“You think so?”  
“Definitely.”  
Sandy was reading through the document as Kirsten continued on her rant to the agents. Sandy finally put the document down and sighed.  
“Kirsten, he has to go.” He told her. “It’s just temporary, though.”  
“How temporary?”  
“Until they can have him evaluated by a therapist to see how he’s coping with everything.”  
“How long will that be?” Seth asked.  
“Monday at the earliest.” Agent Hayward told them.  
“The earliest? That’s four days!” Seth shouted.  
“Where is Mr. Atwood?” Agent Manns asked and they all looked and saw the stool where Ryan had been sitting moments before empty.  
“Summer took him out to the pool house to get him away from everything.”  
“He could have run off.”  
“He’s not going to run.” Kirsten told them. “He wants to stay here with us. And if he was even thinking about it, Summer wouldn’t let him.”  
“We’ll go out and talk to him. Alone.” Sandy stated as the agents started to follow them. “We’ll get him to come out.”  
They walked out to the pool house and saw Summer sitting with Ryan on the bed as they talked quietly. They both looked up as they heard them come in. Summer gave them a small smile while Ryan just looked distraught.  
“Summer, could you give us a minute?” Sandy asked and she nodded.  
“He’s really upset, but he won’t do anything stupid.” She told them as she walked out and went to be with Seth.  
“How are you doing, kid?” Sandy asked him as they both sat beside him.  
“Really?” he looked at him.  
“Sorry.”  
“No, I’m sorry.” Ryan said softly. “This is all my fault.”  
“Let’s not worry about whose fault it is, ok?” Kirsten held him. “They want to keep you for a few days. See how you’re adjusting out here with everything.”  
“And after those few days, what happens?”  
“They’re going to decide whether or not you belong here.”  
“So I could be taken away permanently?”  
“That’s highly unlikely.”  
“But I do suggest that you don’t give them any ammunition.” Sandy told him. “Just do what they ask of you, try not to get upset and lose your cool.”  
“Are we allowed to contact each other at all?” Ryan looked at him.  
“I don’t think we can, but I’ll see if I can pull some strings so we can at least have a phone call.”  
“We’d better pack you some things.” Kirsten told him.  
“Just clothes. No valuables.” Sandy told her. “They’ll take everything once he arrives there.”  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Summer was saying comforting words to Seth as the agents stood nearby. They all looked up as Ryan came in carrying his old backpack as Sandy and Kirsten followed him. The agents started to approach them, but Sandy stopped him.  
“Could you give us a minute? I promise he won’t run. We’ll meet you in the driveway when we’re done.”  
“Five minutes,” Agent Manns told him as they walked outside.  
“You’re going to be fine,” Summer went to give Ryan a hug. “You’ve been through worse things than this, right?”  
“Right.” He said softly.  
“I’ll see you soon.” Seth gave him one of his brotherly hugs that Ryan was always uncomfortable with, but didn’t seem to mind this time.  
“Ok. It’s time.” Sandy told them and they all walked with Ryan outside where the agents were waiting for them.  
“We should go now,” Agent Hayward opened the back door of the car.  
“Remember, no ammunition.” Sandy whispered to him as Kirsten hugged Ryan tightly one last time and finally let him go as he climbed in the back of the agents’ car. All the Cohen’s and Summer watched from the steps as the car drove down the driveway and pulled out. Summer held Seth, and Sandy held Kirsten, as they all watched the driveway for several minutes.  
Each one of them was hoping that the car would come back up the driveway and the agents would tell them that it was some kind of big misunderstanding. When it didn’t happen after awhile, they all eventually went back inside the house.


	2. Adjustments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan's first day in the facility....

Chapter 2: Adjustments  
No one got any sleep the night that Ryan was taken away. After they all eventually went back inside, they all just stayed in the den not doing or saying anything. Summer called her house and told her dad what had happened and that she would stay overnight because Seth really needed her. It was well past two am when Sandy forced everyone to go off to bed, but he knew that none of them would be able to get any sleep.  
Seth slowly climbed out of bed after finally giving up on getting any kind of sleep and walked out of his room. He saw Summer coming out of the guestroom and she went to him as soon as she saw him there.  
“It’ll be ok.” She whispered to him. “He’ll be back.”  
“That’s what my dad kept saying last night.”  
“It’s true.” She told him as they walked downstairs.  
They walked into the kitchen and saw Sandy and Kirsten standing at the counter with cups of coffee sitting in front of them as they had a whispered conversation. They looked up as they heard a noise and saw Seth come in with Summer and they offered them small smiles.  
“Thank you for letting me stay here last night, Mr. and Mrs. Cohen. I didn’t want to leave any of you alone.” Summer told them.  
“It’s no problem.” Kirsten told her.  
“Have you heard anything yet?” Seth looked at his dad.  
“Not yet.” Sandy sighed. “But I called Rachel from my law firm, and she agreed to be Ryan’s legal counsel. She’s going to make a stop at the facility later today.”  
“We wanted to talk to you about something,” Kirsten told Seth. “We’ve talked about this for weeks, and with this happening we think we should just do it now.”  
“Should I leave for this?” Summer asked.  
“No. It’s ok if you stay.”  
“So what is it?” Seth asked.  
“We want to legally adopt Ryan so that he can be a permanent member of this family. So this can’t ever happen again.”  
“What do you think?” Sandy asked.  
“Well, what took you guys so long?” Seth asked. “He’s been living here for almost a year, and you just now decided to do this?”  
“Like we said, we’ve been talking about this for awhile. Rachel said she’ll try to put a rush on it.”  
“Oh!” Summer said suddenly, making the other three look at her. “I have the perfect idea for a present for him when he comes home.”  
“What is it?” Kirsten looked at her.  
“I don’t have all the details.” She glanced at Seth. “But we’re going to need back up. Cohen, let’s gather the troops.”  
“What troops?” Seth followed her out.   
“For starters, Luke and the rest of the soccer team.”  
“I don’t know what she’s planning, but I have a feeling it’s going to take awhile.” Seth told his parents as she pulled him out of the room.  
“At least she’ll keep him occupied for a few hours.” Sandy sighed. “I can’t say the same for us, though.”  
“Not again.” Kirsten sighed as her cell phone rang and she reluctantly answered it. “Dad, I already told you I’m not coming in. I’m taking some personal days. No. You’ll have to handle it all by yourself. Ryan was taken away from us last night, and I’m not going back to work until he is returned.”  
Sandy held her as she hung up the phone and threw it on the counter. She started to cry and he comforted her.  
“It’s going to be ok. We’ll get him back.” He assured her.  
“We don’t even know what’s happening to him in that place.”  
“Try not to think about it.”  
“So I just heard Summer’s idea,” Seth came back down after he got dressed. “I think it’s a great idea, but I told her we had to run it by you since it does involve the house.”  
“What are you talking about, Seth?” Kirsten wiped her eyes.  
“The guest room next door to Seth’s room.” Summer came in after hanging up the phone. “I was thinking that we could turn it into Ryan’s bedroom.”  
“You were?” Sandy glanced at Kirsten.  
“With the adoption process underway, you want to appear as a close family unit. Having Ryan in the pool house far away from the rest of you isn’t practical. He needs to be close to the rest of you.”  
“I think that’s a great idea.” Kirsten smiled at them. “It’ll be a great surprise when he comes home again.”  
“There’s Luke.” Summer said as they heard a loud honk outside. “We’ll be back in a couple hours. We’re going to Home Depot.”  
“Home Depot?” Sandy looked at Seth  
“I don’t argue with her. I just go along.” Seth followed her out and they got into Luke’s truck.  
“Maybe having a project will keep his mind off everything.” Sandy said as his cell phone rang and he picked it up. “It’s Rachel. Maybe she has news on Ryan.”  
“Answer it.” Kirsten told him.  
“Rachel, any news?” Sandy listened to the other end. “What? Why would they do that? I thought they were taking him to a group home. He’s not violent. Ok. Can you get us to have a phone call today sometime? Seven? We’ll be waiting for it tonight. Thank you. Bye.”  
“What’s going on?” Kirsten looked at him as he hung up.  
“He’s not in a foster care group home. They sent him to a teen youth facility.”  
“Why?”  
“Because of his attack on Oliver, they think he’s violent.”  
“He’s not violent.”  
“I know. Rachel’s going to try to have him transferred. She’s going to meet with him in a little bit. And she told me to expect a call around seven o’clock tonight.”  
“I just want to hear his voice. I need to make sure that he’s ok.”  
“I know.” He held her.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Ryan slowly awoke that morning as he heard a lot of noise outside the ‘room’ he was assigned to. He knew he wouldn’t get any sleep that night after he was brought to a youth facility instead of a group home. As soon as the agents pulled up to the facility instead of a group home, he had wanted to call and inform Sandy. But the agents didn’t listen to him and just shoved him into the facility.  
As soon as he was inside, he met up with the administrator and they took his belongings and made him take a shower using this nasty-smelling shampoo. Then they gave him the list of rules for the facility and showed him to his room. He was sharing with two fifteen-year-old twin boys, Alex and Andrew, who were taken from their crack-dealing parents three months ago and who had a history of violence.  
“Ryan, you’d better get up.” Alex came into the room. “Hurry up and make the bed. They just started down our hall.”  
Ryan shot out of bed and scrambled to finish before they reached their room. He placed the pillow at the head of the bed as the door opened and the ‘warden’ came in.  
“Impressive,” he looked Ryan up and down. “Breakfast is being served.”  
Ryan quickly followed Alex out of their room and they met up with Andrew in the cafeteria after they got themselves some of the substance that they called food.  
“Thanks for that back there.” Ryan told Alex.  
“No problem.” He assured him. “So why are you here? I hear you live with a family in a gated community.”  
“They think I’m violent because I attacked someone in my school’s lounge.” He explained to them the entire Oliver situation.  
“So no one believed you? Not your foster family or your girlfriend?”  
“Well, I didn’t tell my parents what I thought, but my brother I told everything to.”  
“This kid almost killed himself and your girlfriend.” Andrew told him. “And you forgave them so easily?”  
“Just because I forgave them doesn’t mean that I trust them.” He looked at them. “And I don’t have a girlfriend right now.”  
“Ryan,” he looked up and saw one of the ‘counselors’ standing there. “You have a meeting with your lawyer now.”  
“Catch you guys later.” Ryan stood up. “I’ll meet up with you in the yard.”  
“See you then.” They called after him as he followed the counselor down the hall and into a room.  
“Ryan,” a lady stood up to greet him once they walked in. “I’m Rachel. I work with Sandy. I’m taking over your case.”  
“Nice to meet you.” Ryan smiled at her.  
“You only get a half hour.” The counselor informed them.  
“I’m Mr. Atwood’s legal counsel. I get as much time as I need to talk with my client.” Rachel informed him as he left. “So how are you doing here, Ryan? Are they treating you ok?”  
“It’s fine. Better than Juvie actually. My roommates are decent.”  
“Good.” She opened up a folder. “Now I wanted to inform you that the Cohen’s want to move forward with the adoption as soon as possible.”  
“Adoption? They mentioned something a few months ago, but they didn’t say anything else about it, so-”  
“They’ve been steadily working on it the last several months,” she explained. “But with what happened last night, they’ve decided to get it done immediately.”  
“So what happens then?”  
“Well, we’ll either have to get your parents to sign over their parental rights or get them taken away.”  
“It probably wouldn’t be too difficult to get their rights taken away.” Ryan sighed. “I don’t want them to think that I don’t care about them anymore.”  
“If you want, you can write them letters of explanation.”  
“Yeah.” He agreed. “Can I get some letters to the Cohen’s as well?”  
“Of course.” She took out some pieces of paper and a pen and handed them to him. “Now about your stay here, we’re still looking at Monday when you can leave here. You just need to go to a couple therapy sessions so they can evaluate your state of mind.”  
“You mean they want to make sure I’m not insane.”  
“I guess you can put it that way.” She smiled at him. “Sandy wanted me to remind you not to give them any ammunition.”  
“I know,” he sighed as he quickly penned some letters to the Cohen’s and his parents and handed them back to Rachel. “Thank you.”  
“I’ll get these to the right people.” She assured him. “Now I’ve been promised that you can make a phone call to the Cohen’s tonight at seven. I told Sandy if they don’t hear from you by seven-thirty, to call me. You will get to talk to them tonight no matter what.”  
“Thanks.” He shook her hand as they both walked out of the room.  
Ryan met up with Alex and Andrew in the yard and saw them under a tree kicking a beat-up soccer ball back and forth to each other. They looked up and smiled when they saw him approach them.  
“How’d your meeting go?” Alex asked.  
“Good.” Ryan smiled. “Apparently, the Cohen’s are rushing to get the adoption finalized.”  
“That’s awesome, man.”  
“But they have to relinquish my parents’ rights.”  
“But you said they were both train wrecks.”  
“That doesn’t mean that I want to hurt them.”  
“I totally understand,” Andrew said. “Even if our parents are losers, you still feel a sense of loyalty towards them.”  
“Enough about me,” Ryan said. “What about you guys? Do you think you’ll be out of here soon?”  
“Hopefully by the end of the week.” Alex told him. “Our maternal grandparents are trying to get custody of us right now.”  
“Good for you guys,” Ryan joined them in kicking the ball, trying to take his mind of things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been awhile for this, but I'd like to know what you all think of this. Leave some feedback.


	3. Chapter 3: Rescued

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan is rescued from the facility by an unlikely source.

Chapter 3: Rescued  
The same day that Ryan had his meeting with Rachel, Sandy was on the phone arguing with the administrator of the youth facility at eight o’clock at night because they hadn’t talked to Ryan yet. Kirsten stood by as Seth came down with Summer after hearing all the yelling.  
“We were promised a phone call from our son at seven. It is now eight. I demand to talk to him.” Sandy spoke into the phone.  
“I got it.” Seth said as the doorbell rang, anxious to get away from all the tension. “Grandpa, come in.”  
“What’s all that racket?” Caleb looked towards the stairs as he heard pounding and some laughter.  
“Seth, Summer, and some of Ryan’s soccer teammates are making the guest room into Ryan’s permanent bedroom.” Kirsten told him as he walked into the kitchen. “We all agreed to it.”  
“I don’t care if he is in a therapy session. He can continue it once we’re done talking to him.” Sandy’s voice got louder after each word. “Put my son on the phone so we can talk to him.”  
“Who is he talking to?” Caleb looked at Kirsten.  
“The facility where Ryan is.” She told him. “We were promised a call at seven, but they wouldn’t let him out of therapy early.”  
“What facility is he at?”  
“It’s the teen youth facility on the other side of town.” Caleb took the phone from Sandy and spoke harshly to the person on the other end.  
“This is Caleb Nichol. I own half this town including that facility. Now let my daughter and son-in-law talk to their son, or I will shut you guys down so fast.” Sandy, Kirsten, and Seth looked at Caleb in shock as he spoke; never had he ever come to Ryan’s defense since he met him.  
“Thanks, dad.” Kirsten told him.  
“You guys get ten minutes.” Caleb handed the phone back to Sandy. “I’m going to go finish some business.”   
Caleb walked out of the house and took out his cell phone and dialed a number and waited.  
“Yeah. It’s me. I need you to shut down that youth facility you investigated a few months ago. As soon as possible. My grandson, Ryan, is being held there. I’m afraid of what he’s going through in that place. Just let me know as soon as it’s done.”  
Caleb hung up the phone as he climbed back into his car and pulled out. He may not have given Ryan a fair chance up till now, but no one deserved to go through what he thought was happening in that facility at that very moment.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Ryan sat on the uncomfortable couch across from the ‘counselor’ who sat in a chair across from him writing in a folder every time he offered one-word answers or a shrug of his shoulders. He was trying very hard to keep his cool, but he was close to losing control. Everything they asked him about the Oliver incident, made it sound like they were looking to blame him for the entire thing.   
Ryan was pulled out of the torturous therapy session when he was informed that the Cohen’s were on the phone for him. He was led into a private room and sat at the table as he picked up the phone.  
“Hello?” he spoke into the phone.  
“Ryan, thank god.” He heard Sandy. “Hold on. I’m going to put you on speaker phone.”  
“Ryan, are you ok?” he heard Kirsten.  
“I’m fine. Who all am I talking to?”  
“The three of us. Summer’s here, too.” Seth told him.  
“Hey, Chino.” He heard Summer’s voice.   
“Hey, Summer.”  
“So how are you handling everything, kid?” Sandy asked him.  
“It’s fine. My roommates are kind of cool. The food here is worse than Kirsten’s, though.” He heard everyone, including Kirsten, start to laugh.  
“So everything’s ok, then?” Sandy asked. “How are the therapy sessions?”  
“Torture.” They heard a hollowness in his voice. “It’s like everything I say, they turn it around so that it’s all my fault.”  
“Just hang in there, ok. Monday isn’t that far away.”  
“I know.” He turned around as he heard the door open and saw one of the guards. “They’re telling me I have to hang up now.”  
“Ok. Just keep your head up, kid. You’ll be out of there soon.”  
“We’ll see you soon.” Seth told him as they all heard a dial tone.  
“He didn’t sound like the Ryan that we know.” Kirsten said as Sandy hung up the phone.  
“Those kinds of places change people.” Sandy told her.  
Summer pulled Seth out of the room and led him back upstairs into the guest room. Luke was finishing putting together the desk, and a couple of Ryan’s teammates were putting together a bookcase.  
“We just talked to Ryan.” Seth informed them.  
“How’d he sound?” Luke asked.  
“Different.” Seth told him. “But dad says that place probably changed him.”  
“He’ll be out soon.” Chip called. “I hope he likes this surprise.”  
“I just need to figure out what kind of mural to put on the wall.” Summer said. “Nothing I come up with really screams Ryan.”  
“Just do something with sports.” Luke suggested. “Or the beach. Or both.”  
“Maybe.” Summer thought about it.  
Sandy and Kirsten peered into Ryan’s new room and smiled at the amount of effort everyone was putting into it for Ryan. They walked away from the room, leaving the teenagers to their project and went to their bedroom to talk about the conversation they had with Ryan.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Ryan was in the ‘activity room’ with Andrew and Alex just chatting when the door opened and a group of people came in.   
“Oh my god.” Andrew looked up wide-eyed.  
“Grams? Gramps?” Alex said astonished.  
Ryan watched in jealousy as they ran to their grandparents and they all hugged each other. They all talked excitedly as Alex introduced them to Ryan.  
“He’s our roommate. He’s only here until they evaluate him.”  
“Nice to meet you.” They shook his hand. “I hope you’re out of here soon.”  
“Me, too.” Ryan agreed as Alex gave Ryan their new mailing address and told him to write to them once he got out.  
Ryan said good-bye to them as they received all their belongings back from the administrator and followed their grandparents out to their car and pulled away from the facility.  
Ryan got back to his room and saw another kid there lying across one of the beds. His new roommate, he assumed. Just by looking at him, he knew that he wasn’t going to like him as well as his last roommates.  
“Hey,” he looked up at him abruptly. “Name’s Riley. What’s yours?”  
“Ryan,” he sat down on his bed.  
“No offense, but I don’t like you. I’m not here to make friends. I’m only here because I have to be.”  
“Fine by me.” Ryan lay back on the bed and sighed, knowing it was going to be a long stay judging from his new roommate’s attitude.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Caleb was at home reading through some files for work when his cell phone went off. He picked it up immediately once he saw who it was.  
“What’d you find out? Can you get it done? You can’t do it tonight? No. We’ll go first thing in the morning. The sooner, the better.” Caleb hung up and sighed, hoping he’d be able to get there in time for Ryan.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Sandy and Kirsten were up early again the next day and stopped when they heard noises coming from Ryan’s new room. They slowly opened the door and saw Seth and Summer arranging the furniture that they had put together the night before. They were arguing about where to put everything when they saw them standing in the doorway.   
“You guys did all this in one day?” Kirsten looked around amazed.  
“We’re not quite done with it.” Summer told them. “We need to bring all his things in from the pool house, and I think he needs some new sheets, and I still need to do the mural.”  
“I think he’ll love it either way.” Sandy told her. “I need to call Rachel and get an update on Ryan.”  
“I’ll go with you.” Kirsten followed him out.  
“Now let’s finish this, Cohen. Then we can go get his things.” Summer said as they continued to rearrange the furniture.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Caleb pulled up to the facility early the next morning and walked in and approached the sign-in desk.  
“I’m here to see Ryan Atwood.” He stated to the person at the desk.  
“Mr. Atwood isn’t allowed any visitors unless it’s his lawyer.”  
“I’m much worse than a lawyer. My name is Caleb Nichol-” he was cut off when an alarm sounded and someone ran in.  
“We need back up. It’s the Atwood kid again.” Caleb followed behind the staff members and into the meeting room where a group of teenagers were gathered around some kind of commotion.  
Caleb pushed his way through and saw a nearly-unconscious Ryan lying on the floor as someone knelt above him punching him.   
“Sir, you can’t be in here.”   
“I can be wherever I want.” Caleb stated. “As of now, this facility has been shut down. Now pull that kid off my grandson this minute.”  
It took four staff members to pull the hot-tempered youth off Ryan. He was barely coherent as the medical staff tried to help him.  
“Caleb, I’m here.” A short man came into the room. “Randall is in the lobby.”  
“Good. Take care of it.” Caleb got Ryan off the floor and practically dragged him out of the room. “One of you get his belongings while I take him out to my car.”  
Ryan wasn’t really aware of what was happening until he was placed into a comfortable seat and he felt himself moving very fast. He tried to move his head, but it was too painful.  
“Just hang in there, Ryan.” He heard a familiar voice, but it didn’t make him feel very safe.  
“Mr. Nichol?” he managed to open his eyes a crack.  
“I’m taking you to get checked out at the hospital, and then I’m taking you back home to Sandy and Kirsten.”  
“Thank you.” He managed to whisper before he gave up on any more coherent speech and passed out from the pain.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Ryan knew that the rest of his stay at the ‘facility’ would be harder that it had been so far. Judging from how his new roommate and the rest of the inhabitants now treated him now that his old roommates had already left. He tried to stay out of everyone’s way and not give them any ammunition, but now it seemed like they went out of their way to torture him. And it’s not as if the staff would come to his ‘rescue’. In their minds, they all deserved to be punished.  
He barely got any sleep the night before due to the fact that Riley wanted to stay up past lights out and the ‘guards’ kept coming into their room to tell him to do as they said. When the alarm sounded, he slowly got out of bed and made his bed before they came in to check it. Unfortunately, Riley got to the made-up bed right before they came in to check on it. When the guards found it messed up, they promised Ryan a hard day by telling him that he would have to do some ‘hard labor’ before he would be able to eat his breakfast. Although the guards made a point to double-check his work, not believing that he could finish before they thought he would. So they gave him more work to do, which he finished just as fast.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
It was after breakfast when the attack came. He had just walked into the ‘activity’ room when his new roommate Riley came up behind him. Before he could react or try to defend himself, he found himself pinned to the floor and he felt the pain explode in his head as it continued to get worse. Suddenly after what felt like hours, he heard a harsh voice and his opponent was lifted off him. He was picked up off the ground and dragged out. He was put into a comfortable seat and he felt himself moving. He swore he could remember having a conversation with Kirsten’s father, but thought he was just imagining it. Caleb’s hated him since before he met him. There’s no way he would’ve helped him.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Ryan regained consciousness in the emergency room with Caleb standing off to the side as the doctor and nurses checked his reflexes again. The doctor was leaning over him lying prone on the hospital bed as he shone a penlight in his eyes. He startled awake and glanced around the room at everyone, his eyes landing on Caleb.  
“What’s going on?” he asked softly.  
“Welcome back, Mr. Atwood.” The doctor told him. “How are you feeling?”  
“What happened?”  
“You took a pretty good beating. It’s a good thing your grandfather got you here when he did. We’ve already done x-rays and a cat scan and it shows no long-term damage. We want to keep you here a few more hours to make sure you don’t have a concussion.”  
“Ok.” Ryan said, confused about the ‘grandfather’ part.  
“Just keep him awake, Mr. Nichol. I’ll come back to check on him in a few hours.” The doctor walked out and Caleb walked closer to the bed.  
“So they were referring to you when they were talking about my grandfather?” Ryan looked at him. “Why didn’t you correct them?”  
“That’s what I announced when I brought you in.” he told him.  
“What’s your game?”  
“What?”  
“You must have something planned for me. Are you going to send me to an even worse place once I can get out of here?”  
“No. No matter what I think of you, no one deserves to be in a place like where I pulled you out of.” He reached over for the Styrofoam coffee cup near Ryan’s bedside and saw him flinch from him, but didn’t mention anything about it.  
“And you just plan on taking me back to the Cohen’s just like that?”  
“Well, there are some conditions.”  
“I knew it.” Ryan sighed.  
“I think you’ll be able to live with these.”  
“So what are they?” he listened in wonder to the conditions that Caleb was relaying to him as he kept thinking that he had to have a motive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what'd you all think? Leave some feedback.


	4. Chapter 4: Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan comes back home to the Cohen's, but is he the same Ryan?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's been so long since I posted to this story. Hope you enjoy this latest chapter.

Chapter 4: Coming Home  
Sandy was on the phone early Sunday morning trying to get through to the facility where Ryan was. He hadn’t been able to get anyone to answer on the other end yet, though. He finally gave up and decided to call his office and talk to Rachel.  
Kirsten came down as they both watched Seth, Summer, and Luke bring all of Ryan’s belongings from the pool house and take it all upstairs.  
“Rachel, I can’t get through to the facility where Ryan is.” Sandy spoke into the phone. “What do you mean? No. I didn’t know that. Ok. Thank you.”  
“What was that about?” Kirsten asked him as he hung up the phone.  
“She’s surprised that we didn’t know that the facility was shut down early yesterday morning by a business tycoon and his associates.” He looked at her.  
“You mean-my dad?”  
“Call him. Find out where Ryan is.” Kirsten got out her cell phone and dialed her dad’s number.  
“Dad, where are you? You are? Ok. We’ll see you in a few minutes.” She hung up the phone.  
“He’s coming here?” Sandy asked  
“Said he has a surprise for all of us.”  
“You don’t think-he has Ryan?”  
“I really don’t know. He’s been acting strange since Ryan was taken. For him to rescue Ryan, that’s very unlike him.”  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Ryan sat silently in the passenger seat of Caleb’s car as he drove towards the gated community. Caleb glanced at him hoping to see some kind of reaction from him. He had been quieter than normal since they left the hospital. They had to bandage up his left wrist after finding that it was sprained, and he had numerous bandages on his face and neck, and stitches in the back of his head from his head hitting the hard concrete floor as the doctor concluded. Caleb noticed that Ryan flinched away from him every time he moved his hand to the shifter in between the driver and passenger seats. So he knew something more than the fight had happened in the facility.  
“Do you think they know?” Ryan asked suddenly, after Caleb had talked to Kirsten on the phone. “About you getting me out, I mean.”  
“I don’t know.” Caleb answered as he pulled up Sandy and Kirsten’s driveway and turned the car off. “Wait in here five minutes while I talk to them.”  
“Sure.” He said softly as Caleb climbed out of the car and walked into the house.  
“Hello?” Caleb called as he walked into the kitchen and found Sandy and Kirsten standing at the counter.  
“Dad, what’s going on?” Kirsten asked him.  
“Where’s Seth?”  
“Upstairs finishing Ryan’s bedroom.”  
“Go get him. This involves all of you.”  
“Seth!” Sandy called up the stairs. “Get down here!”  
“What’s going on?” Seth came downstairs. “We only have a couple things to finish. Grandpa?”  
“I have some important news for all of you.” Caleb told them.  
“Does this have anything to do with you shutting down the facility where they took Ryan yesterday morning?” Sandy asked.   
“Grandpa, you actually did that?” Seth looked at him.  
“Yes. When I found out which facility it was that they took him to, I made some calls. There’ve been a few incidents involving the occupants the last few months, but nothing could be proved. So I made arrangements for the occupants to finish out their time in other facilities.”  
“And Ryan?” Seth looked at his grandfather. “Did you do the same for Ryan? We all know how you feel about him-”  
“Can I come in yet?” a familiar voice called out as they heard the door open and shut. “I’ve been sitting in your car waiting for your signal.”  
“Oh my god.” Kirsten ran to Ryan as he came into them.   
“Careful.” Ryan flinched as she hugged him tightly. “Still sore.”  
“Sorry.” She pulled back and took inventory of all the cuts, scrapes, bruises and bandages all over his face.”But you’re back now, right?”  
“Yeah.” He smiled at them as Sandy and Seth came over to them and they gave him a group hug. “Although Caleb made me promise to some conditions before he would agree to bring me here.”  
“What conditions?” Seth asked, curious.  
“Why don’t you fill Seth in while I talk to Sandy and Kirsten outside?” Caleb told Ryan as he led the two of them out of the house.  
“Ok. What did you find when you got there?” Sandy asked Caleb once they were standing in the driveway. “It had to have been bad for you to just pull him out of there like that.”  
“He was on the floor unconscious as one of the other kids beat him up. The guards were just standing by and letting it happen.” He revealed and Kirsten gasped. “I got him out of there as fast as I could and took him to the hospital. We would’ve been here last night, but the doctor wanted to make sure he didn’t have a concussion.”  
“And did he?”  
“A slight concussion, but he’s fine now.”  
“Thank you, dad.” Kirsten hugged him. “I know you haven’t been his biggest fan since he came here.”  
“He hasn’t exactly been my biggest fan either.”  
“So what are these conditions you made him promise to?” Sandy asked.  
“Yes. I told him he had to join a couple sports to get rid of some of that aggression he has built up inside him. He also needs to go to counseling.”  
“Counseling?”  
“I told him it was because of his anger, but there is another reason.” Caleb explained. “I notice that he clams up every time I mention the facility. He flinched every time I moved as we were driving over here, so I think something happened that he doesn’t feel comfortable talking about.”  
“Therapy is probably a good idea for him, then.”  
“Oh. And I told him he should stay away from Marissa for now. At least until she’s able to get herself straightened out.”  
“That’s a good idea,” Kirsten agreed. “Now I think you should agree to some conditions as well.”  
“What kind of conditions?”  
“You want Ryan to do sports, you have to go to the games; at least all the home games.”  
“Agreed.”  
“And weekly meals that should include you getting to know Ryan a little better. You might find that you have more in common than you know.”  
“That’s reasonable, I guess.”  
“You’d better stick to these if you want Ryan to stick to his.” Kirsten warned him before they started to go back into the house.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Luke and Summer came downstairs when they heard all the commotion. They walked into the kitchen and saw Seth talking to someone at the counter. They didn’t see who it was because they had their back to them.  
“Cohen, we need to finish.” Summer told him. “It has to be done before Ryan comes back.”  
“Chino!” Luke smiled at him when he turned around to face him. “How’d you get out already?”  
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it later.”  
“In that case, let’s go upstairs.” Summer told him. “We have a surprise for you. Let’s go.”  
“Ok.” Ryan followed them all up the stairs and they stopped outside the door to the guest room by Seth’s room. “What’s going on, you guys?”  
“When mom and dad announced that they were going to officially adopt you, Summer decided that you shouldn’t be in the pool house.”  
“You should be close to your family.” Summer told him as she turned the door knob. “So welcome to your new room.”  
Summer pushed the door open and Ryan followed them in. He looked around in awe as the others watched his reaction. The bed was near the middle of the room with new bedding. There was new furniture against the one wall; the dresser was full of all his clothes with the stereo from the pool house on top of it, the bookcase was filled with some of the books that he had read for school so far and Seth had added some comic books, and the desk had his laptop sitting on top of it. Ryan was in awe of the paintings on the walls. Behind the head board of his bed was a mural of a beach scene at sunset. The wall near the window had a painting of a soccer ball that took up the entire wall with his number on it.  
“You guys, this is amazing.” He said softly.  
“Summer did the paintings.” Seth told him. “Luke and the guys from the soccer team put the furniture together.”  
“I know it’s not as spacious as the pool house, but at least you’re close to your family now.” Summer told him.  
“Thank you.” Ryan said softly.  
“So, come on. Tell us what were grandpa’s conditions for him bringing you home.” Seth said as they all walked back downstairs.  
Sandy and Kirsten came back inside as they saw Ryan coming downstairs with Seth, Summer, and Luke. They had obviously already shown Ryan his new bedroom. They were talking excitedly with him as they reached the bottom of the stairs.  
“So sports, counseling, and no Marissa?” Seth was saying. “I think those are reasonable conditions.”  
“I’m just glad to be out of that place.” Ryan told them.  
“Hey. Where’s grandpa?” Seth spotted his parents by the door.  
“He left to give us some family time.” Kirsten smiled.  
“Right. We’ll go, too.” Luke told them and Summer followed him out.  
“Come on, Ryan.” Sandy smiled at him. “You know where the menus are. It’s your choice tonight.”  
Seth followed him to the kitchen and watched him open the take-out menu drawer. Sandy and Kirsten watched Ryan intently all throughout dinner without letting him know that they were watching him. He flinched involuntarily every time he tried to move his left hand to try to take one of the take out containers. But he seemed to be holding something back as he told them what had gone on in the facility. They realized that Caleb was right; something else had happened that he didn’t want them to know about. He definitely needed therapy to work through everything.  
“That last roommate of yours sounds like he has a screw loose.” Seth told him. “So what do you say we play some video games now?”  
“We’ll let it go tonight,” Sandy told them. “Since it’s your first night back. But your punishment from the school problem is still in effect for tomorrow.”  
“Let’s go enjoy your freedom while you still have it.” Seth told him and they went into the living room.  
“So what do you think?” Kirsten looked at Sandy.  
“I think something happened to him in there.” He told her. “And if we don’t take immediate action, he’ll shut down on us.”  
“I’ll call and ask the doctor if he can recommend any good psychiatrists.”  
Sandy and Kirsten watched Seth and Ryan play their favorite ninja game as they sat beside each other on the couch. They noticed a look on Ryan’s face that they didn’t recognize, and it scared them. They knew they had to take action as soon as they could.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
A few hours later, Ryan and Seth retreated to their rooms. For a moment, Ryan was going to go out to the pool house until he remembered that he had a new bedroom upstairs. He slowly walked in and turned on the light as he took a better look at everything. He walked to the bookcase and saw his team photo from when he played soccer. There was also a soccer ball with signatures from all his teammates scrawled all over it. His wrist started to hurt again so he took the pain killers he was prescribed at the hospital. He eventually made it to the bed where he collapsed on top of the covers and fell asleep within minutes.   
Sandy peered into Ryan’s room when he went up to check on him and Seth before heading off to bed with Kirsten. He saw Ryan fast asleep still fully clothed on top of the bed covers. He silently walked in and proceeded to remove his shoes and put them on the floor just below the bed. He got a light blanket and covered him as Ryan stirred a little bit, but remained asleep.  
“Good night, kid.” He said softly. “You’re home now, Ryan.”  
As he was walking out of the room, he could’ve sworn he heard a soft voice say.  
“Good night, dad.” Sandy turned out the light and closed the door behind him as he sighed deeply.   
Maybe they were finally making some progress with Ryan. Maybe now he knew that they wouldn’t give up on him; no matter what.  
“Sandy?” Kirsten came up the stairs and saw him just staring at Ryan’s closed bedroom door. “Is everything OK?”  
“Yes.” He followed her to their bedroom. “I think everything is going to be fine now.”  
Or so he thought…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> So what'd you all think? Leave me some feedback.


End file.
